He checked into a hotel with his daughter. A staff member thought he was a pedophile.

A father traveling with his teenage daughter was stopped by hotel staff, who suspected him of being a pedophile.

A staff member at the Travelodge in Chertsey, England, called the police on 46-year-old Craig Darwell, who had to prove he was the father of 13-year-old Millie. The Darwells were on a trip to nearby Thorpe Park.

“When I got back to reception the guy started asking me to prove I was her dad,” Darwell told The Sun. “He said it was company policy and I had to go onto Facebook to show messages I’ve sent her.”

Darwell told the paper that it didn’t take long for the hotel staff member to “realize he had the wrong end of the stick.”

The incident happened on March 30.

“Hotels, taxi companies and other licensed premises have recently been equipped with the right knowledge to identify children who could be at risk of exploitation under Operation Makesafe,” the Surrey police told The Telegraph.

Operation Makesafe is an initiative from London police to “report any concerns of Child Sexual Exploitation.”

“We all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe from sexual exploitation. We are working with businesses to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation,” according Anna Rice, of the London police’s public protection unit.

Darwell is a widower. His wife died when Millie was four. He said it was the first time he had experienced something like this.

“I couldn’t believe it. Millie and I have stayed in lots of places over the years and this has never happened to me,” he told The Sun.

A spokesman for Travelodge told The Telegraph that the hotel chain takes its “responsibilities towards protecting children and vulnerable young people extremely seriously,” but that the they “deeply regret any distress or inconvenience cause to Mr. Darwell on this occasion.”

There were an estimated 1.5 million human trafficking victims in North America and Western Europe, according to a 2016 article in The Atlantic.

This story was originally published April 6, 2017 at 12:15 AM with the headline "He checked into a hotel with his daughter. A staff member thought he was a pedophile.."